News Review 19/12/2020

UK-EU Brexit Deal Already Completed; Just ‘Theatre’ Now

As the trade deal negotiations between the UK and the EU following Brexit reach their deadline, the careful observer can see that in reality the deal has already been completed and what is happening now is only public posturing. The final issues on the negotiating table have clearly already been designed for a smooth compromise between both parties. The UK will give the EU access to fishing in British waters; and the EU will allow Britain to have treaty language suggesting that it is not strictly bound to EU domestic regulations. According to a report at Bloomberg, Irish Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar told RTE that there’s often an element of theatre at the end of negotiations.

The primary issue in the Brexit negotiations has been not conflict between the UK and the EU but conflict within Britain itself between the establishment and the Eurosceptics. Britain had been for decades balancing the pro-European and anti-European factions within the UK, in order that Britain could pursue a foreign policy that enables it to have one foot inside the EU and the other outside. But the complexities of such a balance proved to be too much for even British political craftiness to sustain. The Eurosceptics became an increasingly obstinate and intractable impediment to the governing of the Tory Party, which is the party of the establishment itself. Cameron’s attempt to solve the issue through a referendum badly backfired, leading to Britain’s exit from the EU. But even after Brexit, the establishment is actually still trying to achieve a similar balance of having one foot in the EU and the other outside. Cameron’s successor Theresa May attempted to do this through a ‘soft Brexit’, even though she had from the beginning been calling for a ‘hard Brexit’. Her failure led the establishment to bring in Boris Johnson, someone who they had planted in the Brexit camp in order to give them control over it. Johnson has avoided the fate of Theresa May by keeping his arguments harsh and some of his actions apparently anti-European. He is also repeatedly overstepping negotiating deadlines to minimise the time for any deal to be fully debated domestically. Inevitably, he will conclude the deal that the establishment want even if he has to sacrifice his own leadership in the process.

Britain is the true founder of Western democracy, which is a cover only for elite interests, channelled through its political and bureaucratic establishment. Democracy is a false and nonsensical idea that cannot be achieved in practice because it contradicts human nature. Man is a created being who must live in accordance with the law of his Creator, the latest and final version of this being that which was revealed to the final messenger, the noble Prophet Mohammad (saw). With Allah’s permission, the Muslim Ummah shall soon re-establish the righteous Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate) State on the method of the Prophet (saw) that shall implement the divine Shari’a once again be a shining model of the true way of life that is fully in accordance with human nature.

Pakistan-Saudi-India, Morocco, Afghanistan

This week, Pakistan returned the second instalment of a $3 billion Saudi loan under pressure from Saudi Arabia, seeking to replace them instead with funds from China. The tensions between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are essentially because of Pakistan’s policy of adopting neutrality between major Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt and Iran. But the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman wanted more and is angry with Pakistan’s reluctance to fully align with Saudi Arabia, for example by providing ground troops for the Saudi war in Yemen or taking public steps towards normalisation with the illegal Jewish entity. Pakistan has been the traditional provider of military forces for the Gulf States. India has a strong presence in the Gulf but not in military and strategic sectors. However, the alienation with Pakistan has provided an opportunity for India, with Indian Army Chief M M Naravane becoming the first ever head of the Indian armed forces to visit both the UAE and Saudi this week. Although America is the dominant influence in Muslim countries, the US knows that it cannot retain control of the Muslim world itself, which is why it has divided the principal Muslim countries against each other, maintaining a type of balance of power between them. In this way the US keeps Muslim countries such as Pakistan confused in their foreign policy actions, sometimes drawing close to one country and sometimes another. The Muslim Ummah will not be rid of foreign influence until it re-establishes a singular general leadership and governance for the entire Muslim world, unifying all Muslim lands under the righteous Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate) State on the method of the Prophet (saw).

In his eagerness to achieve a public normalisation between Morocco and the illegal Jewish entity, US President Donald Trump signalled US acceptance of Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara. But this contradicts longstanding US policy as Morocco, like most of the rest of the Maghreb, is actually under British control. So this week, James Baker, a former US Secretary of State and old establishment hand, became the latest senior Republican figure to criticise Trump’s actions over Morocco and call for incoming President-elect Joe Biden to reverse it. US foreign policy is not determined by its presidents but by its establishment, comprising serving and retired senior politicians and officials, who are patronised and supported by elite Capitalist interests. The Western Capitalist countries, despite sharing a common ideology, are bitter competitors and rivals to one another in their pursuit of world conquest and domination. Britain was the world superpower before the United States; its influence has greatly diminished but the UK still holds onto some countries of lesser importance, such as those in the Maghreb. But America is not willing to leave the UK with anything and is slowly removing Britain from those countries also, such as through its decade long plan for Libya.

With the failure of the Trump administration to achieve a smooth transition and handover in Afghanistan, the top US military official General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was sent to Afghanistan this week to meet with Taliban representatives and with President Ashraf Ghani who heads the Kabul regime. The US is not abandoning its strategic objectives, which have always been to have permanent US military bases in Afghanistan, whose extraordinary mountainous elevation makes it a ‘fortress in the sky’ providing a commanding position over West Asia, Central Asia and South Asia, as well as a forward position for the United States against both Russia and China. Nevertheless, America does not want to be responsible for domestic governance in Afghanistan, and is thus trying desperately to work out some local formula by which an Afghan regime can be constructed that accepts the American military presence. The Taliban are of course firmly opposed to such a position, even though relentless pressure from the Pakistan military establishment has forced elements of the Taliban leadership into negotiations with America. The only solution for Afghanistan is jihad, as long as America continues to have a presence. But it is not possible for jihad to be successful as long as Muslim countries are governed by an agent ruling class that owes its loyalty to the foreign Western imperialist disbeliever. With Allah’s permission the Muslim Ummah shall soon arise and overthrow these alien regimes and pledge their loyalty instead to a sincere, righteous Khalifa (Caliph) who shall be bound by this pledge to implement Islam alone, liberate occupied Islamic lands and carry its message to the entire of mankind.

The Arab Spring Provides Important Lessons for Muslims Today

This month sees the ten-year anniversary of the beginning of the Arab Spring that commenced from Tunisia and swept across much of the Middle East triggering a series of uprisings and regime collapses. Its impact was great, it revealed much of the genuine frustration within the Ummah, the aversion to agent rulers, the presence within the Ummah of Islamic feelings and thoughts, and the tendency for collective collaboration within Muslims that can enable the Ummah to obliterate all obstacles in its path. But the Arab Spring also suffered from the lack of clear political leadership and a clear intellectual vision of what could replace the existing structure of governance in the Muslim world. Both these elements, a capable political leadership and a vibrant intellectual vision, do already exist within the Ummah, in Hizb ut Tahrir, which has been persevering tirelessly for decades under generations of brutal tyrannical governments that have tried their best to prevent the Ummah from knowing the true reality of this party. But this party continues to grow in size, influence and ability despite all the machinations of the agent rulers. Those who are on the truth will always ultimately succeed against those who are on falsehood. Allah (swt) says in the Noble Qur’an:

[بَلْ نَقْذِفُ بِالْحَقِّ عَلَى الْبَاطِلِ فَيَدْمَغُهُ فَإِذَا هُوَ زَاهِقٌ]

“Rather, We dash the truth upon falsehood, and it destroys it, and thereupon it departs.” [al-Anbya: 18]